Cat Ears and Red Faces
by ShortCurlyFries
Summary: A backfired potion causes Harry to gain cat ears and a tail, while also making relations between Harry and Draco strange. Also, Harry blushes a lot.


**Hey! this was written a while back, so there's several things that are probably inaccurate. Some parts may be confusing as well. It's unbeta'd, and I would love it if someone could tell me if I spelled Amortentia wrong. Constructive criticism is welcome, and I hope you enjoy!  
**

* * *

Harry was having a terrible day. In Divination, Professor Trelawney predicted that he would die at the ripe age of 27. Then, he was bitten in the greenhouse by a Rubber Snout Lily, a plant whose snout was anything but rubber. Now, he had potions, or what he referred to as a living Hell. Professor Snape had yet to stop terrorizing him inside and outside of class, and he was sick and tired of it. Harry was _nothing_ like his bully of a father. He would only consider treating someone like that if they deserved it, and he doubted that Snape did anything to warrant the treatment he received.

Today, they were making a Sleeping Draught. Like always, Professor Snape was hovering over his shoulder. Almost nothing had changed since last year. Draco and himself still didn't get along, the tension between Ron and Hermione had not left, Neville was as clumsy as always, and there was still that unbearable twinkle in Dumbledore's pale blue eyes. If anything, Harry wanted to scream for _something_ , anything, to happen. He was near a month into eighth year, and nothing had changed.

"Potter, pray tell, why are you putting Holly Seeds into your potion?" A smooth voice startled Harry from his thoughts. He, instead of getting angry, he replied, "Sorry Professor."

Snape turned up his nose and continued to hover over the shoulders of students.

Truth was, Harry had no idea if he had made other mistakes or not, and he cursed himself for not paying attention.

Soon, Snape had called the attention of the class to himself, "I want you to test your potions. Pour the contents into a vial and drink it." He glared at the class, daring them to argue.

The class moved silently, pouring their potions into vials before looking at them warily.

"Professor? If we drank this, wouldn't we miss next period?" a voice, most likely Hermione, spoke up through the silence.

"With this amount, it _should_ only last two to five minutes," Professor Snape said sharply, shutting her up.

Harry closed his eyes and downed his potions, waiting for the inevitable failure. Soon, he noticed he was most definitely not asleep. His eyes opened to meet a few curious stares, causing his eyebrows to furrow in confusion. He was used to stares, but they usually had a reason to stare, so what had he done? A laugh broke out from where Draco's group was seated, most likely Pansy Parkinson.

"He - wh - Harry! You're a cat!" Hermione exclaimed, suddenly directly in front of him. Harry's hands reached up, and his fingers found two furry objects atop his head, then he saw something out of the corner of his eye, behind him. He whirled around and saw a tail swaying behind him.

Snape then spoke up, "15 points from Gryffindor, go see Madame Pomfrey."

* * *

"You reckless boy. It'll wear off in a few weeks. I can't reverse it. You'll have to go about like this," Madame Pomfrey sighed and sent Harry off.

Harry sulked all the way to his next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts. As he opened the door, most of the class turned to stare at the black ears on his head, but he had his tail safely wrapped around his torso. He ignored the snickers that erupted from where Draco's group sat. Unfortunately, he couldn't ignore them when the only seat available was right in the middle of them, beside Draco Malfoy.

"Potter," Draco smirked at him as he took his seat.

"Malfoy," he sneered at the blond.

Throughout the lesson, Draco had sent Harry strange looks that Harry couldn't decipher. Not to mention that Harry was reacting just as strangely. When the Slytherin stared for too long, Harry blushed deeply and attempted to hide his face from the taller boy.

"I want you to do a foot and a half essay on Boggarts. Your assignment is due Friday. Class dismissed."

Harry gathered his things and rushed out of the classroom, feeling Draco's stare burning a hole into his back.

* * *

A week later, Harry still had the feline appendages. The Golden Trio were gathered in the great hall for lunch.

"He just can't stop staring at me! I think he touched my arse a few times too!" Harry whisper-yelled at Hermione and Ron.

"Calm down, Harry. He's been eyeing you for a while. I guess the ears just made him finally take action," Hermione waved her hand at him in dismissal.

"What does that mean?" Harry spoke tentatively.

"I guess the ears accent your already adorable features. He just wants to claim you before someone else does." She said. Ron sputtered beside her, " _Cute?_ " he asked.

"Ron, don't question my affection for you. Harry's gay, even if he hasn't realized it yet."

"I've, uh, actually known since fifth year, after Cho," Harry blushed.

Suddenly coughing broke out from the Slytherin table and Harry was surprised to see that Draco had choked on his food. _He never breaks his composure,_ Harry thought.

"I guess even he has to lose his cool sometimes," Ron smirked. This caused Harry to have an unexplainable urge to punch his best friend.

"That's rude, Ronald. We have a truce right now. You need to be polite." Hermione glared at him, making Ron blush.

Since the war had ended, the Gryffindors and Slytherins formed a truce. Draco had been truly sorry for his actions. Pansy didn't like the Gryffindors, but her strange obsession with Draco made her agree.

"I still don't understand why they made us redo seventh year," Ron sighed.

"We missed a year of schooling and have yet to complete out NEWTS." Hermione replied.

"That shouldn't matter! We defeated The Dark Lord! We saved the wizard population! We-" Ron flailed his long freckled arms as he raged, but was cut off when he noticed Hermione's glare. "Well, I suppose NEWTS might be important!" Ron stuttered causing Hermione to smirk in triumph. Harry's cat ears twitched in annoyance. He wanted silence, but these two just couldn't _shut up._ Then, a strange hiss interrupted their argument and they stared at Harry.

"Harry, what was that?" Ron asked slowly. "He hissed," Hermione whispered, amazed.

A pink flush rose from Harry's collar to his cheeks, "Whatever, I'm gonna do my homework. In the Library." Harry's ears flattened themselves in his fluffy black hair.

Nobody noticed a Slytherin slither out the door behind him.

* * *

Harry plopped himself into one of the chairs and sighed. There was no sign of homework anywhere around him, much less books. The raven's eyes were closed and his head was tilted back.

"So, the savior is gay? Those poor girls."

Harry immediately straightened and opened his eyes wide, "Malfoy," he growled.

"Harry," Draco purred darkly, causing a blush to appear on Harry's face. The Slytherin smirked in delight. He advanced on the Gryffindor, and the shorter's face reddened. "I thought you were working on homework."

Harry stood up in an attempt to bolt, but Draco's arms wrapped around his torso before he could take a single step.

"We aren't done here," Draco whispered into Harry's ear, and nipped the raven's ear lobe.

Suddenly, two hands were lower on Harry's body than he allowed, gripping his rear, and he wrenched himself out of Draco's grip. He ran all the way to the Gryffindor common room, forgetting that he still had classes. First and second years watched him race to his dorm room curiously.

Harry yanked the door open and slammed it behind him. He dropped himself face-down on his bed and toed his shoes off. He slowly drifted off to sleep, never letting his mind wander from the Slytherin that has assaulted him.

"No _way_ I can tell Hermione and Ron," he muttered before falling asleep.

* * *

"-Arry! Harry, wake up!" a voice interrupted Harry's nap. He blinked slowly, so his eyes could adjust.

"Ugh, Five more minutes," Harry groaned out.

"It's nearly supper! Get your lazy arse up!" This caused Harry to bolt up, and launch out of bed, "What!" he yelled, "Why didn't you get me sooner?"

"I couldn't find you! Why were you napping anyway? You missed all your classes!" Ron scolded before mumbling something like "lucky."

Harry rushed out of the room after slipping his shoes on, Ron following closely behind, answering the question as he walked, "I don't know, honestly," Harry shrugged.

Once they reached the Great Hall, dinner had already begun. Harry could feel Draco's stare burn into his face, and he blushed. He quickly walked to his table, where Hermione fixed his with a questioning glare.

"He was napping," Ron told her, and she glared harder.

"You skipped class, so you could _nap_ ," she was almost shouting.

"It's not a big deal, Hermione, really," Harry tried to reassure her, but she ignored him with her nose turned up.

Dinner passed quickly, Hermione not saying a word to Harry or Ron.

As Harry and Ron walked back to their common room, a group of Slytherins passed them. Harry's eyes widened and he blushed deeply when he felt the not-yet-familiar feeling of a hand on his arse. He whipped his head around to look at the assailant, and he was not surprised to see Draco Malfoy sauntering away.

"Harry, snap out of it!" Ron said, causing Harry to turn back to him.

"Nothing, sorry," Harry answered Ron's silent question.

* * *

"You're going to make Amortentia today. Does anyone know what that is?" Snape drawled, trying to ignore Hermione's hand. Unfortunately for him, no one else raised their hand.

"Amortentia is the most powerful love potion in the world. It is distinctive for its mother-of-pearl sheen, and steam rises from the potion in spirals. Amortentia smells different to each person, according to what attracts them," Hermione spoke.

"You have the rest of class to brew, get started."

Class passed quickly, to Harry at least, and soon the room reeked of Magnolia, spice, and something Harry couldn't quite identify. He had no idea who this smell belonged to, but they smelled amazing.

He peeked around the room at his classmates and noticed that everyone appeared quite euphoric.

"Bring a sample of your potion to my desk, then clean your area, pack up, and go to your next period," Snape ordered. The class quickly followed his orders, and soon Snape had a neat stack of potions on his desk.

"We have free period now. Study or practice?" Ron asked Harry once they were out of the classroom.

"Study, we have a Herbology essay," he answered.

On their way to the library, Hermione ran up beside them.

"I thought you were ignoring us," Ron didn't look at her.

"You're too thick to get what the lesson I'm trying to teach you is if I'm ignoring you, so I'd have to tell you bluntly and directly."

"Figures," He sighed.

As the trio neared the library, Harry saw Pansy Parkinson go in, which meant that Draco was in there as well.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the library, and sat down at a secluded table in the back. This time, Harry did have a book open in front of him, and he was focusing deeply on it.

"Hey Harry?"Hermione suddenly asked and Harry hummed in response, "What's going on with you? You haven't accused Malfoy of anything Death Eater related for a month, much less insult him at all," Hermione's eyebrows were furrowed, and Ron watched his best friend expectantly.

"What're you talking about? I'm acting like I always do. Unless that potion did something to my behavior as well as my appearance," Harry's tail escaped from his shirt and began waving slowly behind him. Ron raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

"Seriously, I'm still me. No one else in here," Harry smiled.

"We know that, it's just, you seem different. Did you meet a boy?" Hermione got excited near the end.

"NO! I mean, no. I don't like anyone," Harry was now blushing in his nervousness.

"Woah, alright. We get it," Ron's hands flew up in surrender.

* * *

Weeks passed without any sign of the strange behavior between Draco and Harry. If anything, it became even worse.

* * *

The proclaimed "Golden Trio" were walking to class in an almost empty corridor. Hermione and Ron only got more suspicious of Harry's behavior.

On the other hand, Harry was worried over the fact that his cat appendages hadn't gone away.

Soon, they crossed paths with Draco and his gang of Slytherins. When Draco inevitably gripped Harry's arse, Harry quietly growled and spun around. His hand shot forward and grabbed the silver and green tie around the other's neck. Harry gave a sharp pull and the taller male was tugged down, so their lips connected. Harry's face was cherry red, and Draco's eyes were wide. The raven pulled back and when he saw Draco's surprised expression, smirked in triumph. Ron watched Harry walk into the classroom with a matching expression to Draco's.

Hermione briskly walked past the two and Blaise commented, "It's about bloody time one of you did it. I'm tired of hearing your whining, Dray."

Ron snapped out of his shock just to shout protests to no one, "Wait, what just happened?!"

Draco snapped out of it as well walked into the classroom, trying to regain his composure, only to see one raven face down on the floor, out cold. He also noticed the lack of furry black ears on his head.

* * *

"Ugh, what happened?" Harry groaned pathetically.

"You passed out when the ears and tail unfortunately disappeared," a smooth voice spoke from above Harry, "They were quite cute on you, dear."

"Draco?" Harry asked, before he noticed the lack of ground under his feet, and arms holding him up bridal style, "What?"

"I'm taking you to the infirmary to make sure you didn't kill even more brain cells from your fall."

Harry was going to ask another question, but he suddenly recalled what exactly he had done, "Oh Merlin, what have I done?" Harry's hands went to cover the blush on his face, but halted in surprise when Draco spoke again.

"There's no need to cover your face, Dear. I quite enjoy seeing it," this caused Harry to bury his face into Draco's chest instead.


End file.
